Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

PS Plus adds 2021’s ‘Game of the Year’ but loses Stray in July

By

Sony confirmed the next batch of games coming to and leaving its PlayStation Plus Extra and PlayStation Plus Premium game catalogs. There are lots of great new additions, with The Game Awards’ 2021 Game of the Year, It Takes Two, headlining the batch, while two Twisted Metal games also arrive ahead of its Peacock TV show. That said, PlayStation Plus’ catalog will lose Stray, the viral cat game from July 2022, which was the first day one release on PlayStation Plus Extra.

Key art for July's PlayStation Plus game catalog additions.
Sony Interactive Entertainment

Here’s a complete list of PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium games coming to the service on July 18.

  • It Takes Two
  • Sniper Elite 5
  • Snowrunner
  • World War Z
  • The Ascent
  • Undertale
  • Spongebob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated
  • Melty Blood: Type Lumina
  • Dysmantle
  • Circus Electrique
  • Dynasty Warriors 9
  • Samurai Warriors 5
  • My Little Pony: A Maretime Bay Adventure
  • Fast & Furious: Spy Racers Rise of SH1FT3R
  • Gravity Crash Portable
  • Twisted Metal
  • Twisted Metal 2
Recommended Videos

Overall, that’s an excellent game lineup. It Takes Two is a fantastic co-op game that garnered well-deserved acclaim for how it forces players to work together throughout an adventure starring two parents who plan to get a divorce. Sniper Elite 5 and World War Z are solid shooters, while Undertale is one of the best indie games of the past decade. The classics catalog was primarily used for a bit of brand synergy, as players can now try the first two games in the Twisted Metal series before watching the show on July 27.

The main cat from Stray looking into the foreground with cyberpunk buildings behind him
Annapurna Interactive

Unfortunately, several notable games will also leave the catalog on July 18. The most shocking is Stray, a PS5 exclusive starring a cat that was also the first game to release on PlayStation Plus Extra on day one. It leaves ahead of an Xbox port’s release next month. Marvel’s Avengers is also leaving the service ahead of its delisting in September. This is the full list of games leaving PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium this month.

  • Stray
  • Marvel’s Avengers
  • Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell
  • BioShock Remastered
  • BioShock 2 Remastered
  • BioShock Infinite: The Complete Edition
  • Borderlands: The Handsome Collection
  • Rogue Stormers
  • Fluster Cluck
  • Raiden V: Director’s Cut

Stray is a fairly significant loss for PlayStation Plus Extra players; thankfully, new additions like It Takes Two, Undertale, and the first two Twisted Metal games make its removal sting a lot less. All of these games come or leave the service on July 18.

Tomas Franzese
Tomas Franzese
Former Digital Trends Contributor
A former Gaming Staff Writer at Digital Trends, Tomas Franzese now reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…
Topics

Editors’ Recommendations

3 PS Plus games to play this 4th of July weekend (July 4-7)
Key art for Assassin's Creed III: Remastered

Happy Fourth of July! It's a holiday weekend, so you're probably going to have a lot of time to relax and party -- or play video games inside while everyone else is blowing up fireworks in the blistering summer heat outside. If you're anything like me, you're probably looking for some new games to play over the course of Independence Day weekend this year, and subscription services like PlayStation Plus Premium thankfully provide tons of options for you to check out. I've even found three somewhat themed around the holiday that you can try.

The first is an Assassin's Creed game set during the American Revolution, which is actually one of very few games to thoroughly explore that period of American history. If you're looking for something more cynical or satirical about America, then there's a remake from Black Forest Games and THQ Nordic that you should play. Finally, if you associate aliens and that classic Will Smith movie Independence Day with this holiday weekend just as much as you do fireworks, then there's a game from Housemarque you must play.
Assassin's Creed 3: Remastered

Read more
3 underrated PS Plus games to check out this weekend (June 28-30)
Key art for Matterfall from Housemarque and Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Some games don't get the love they deserve when they come out. Maybe it's because they launched during a crowded time of year, weren't in a mainstream genre, or had negative public perception as they headed toward release. These games become underrated cult classics and can gain new life and attention on subscription services like Xbox Game Pass or PlayStation Plus, where players have more control over which games they play, how long they want to play them, and how much money they want to spend on them.

That's why I looked to these underrated games when determining what PS Plus Premium and Extra game catalog games to recommend this weekend. One is an exhilarating shoot 'em up platformer hybrid from the developers of Returnal. Another is the Marvel strategy game and RPG from the studio that makes series like Sid Meier's Civilization and XCOM. Finally, we have an enjoyable LittleBigPlanet spinoff that seemed like it flew under the radar more than every other PlayStation 5 launch title.
Matterfall

Read more
3 outstanding PS Plus games to play this weekend (June 14-16)
Key art for Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus

The most announcement-filled week of gaming has wrapped up. From Summer Game Fest to the Xbox Games Showcase and Ubisoft Forward, there was a ton of big gaming news. Many of the games revealed are coming to PlayStation 5, too. On top of that, Sony's Days of Play initiative is still in full swing, which means some more PS2 games finally got PS4 and PS5 ports for the first time in several years. As a result, there's no shortage of relevant games in the PlayStation Plus Premium and Extra catalog to check out if you're looking for something to play this weekend.

Three titles stand out to me in particular. The first is the game that cemented the status of a pillar franchise for PlayStation and is getting reinterpreted as a Lego game for kids later this year. Next, there's a Dragon Ball game that looks even better than the manga and anime it's based on and is a nice companion piece to a Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero, which launches later this year. Finally, I'm recommending the PS2 classic that put Sucker Punch Productions on the map.
Horizon Forbidden West

Read more